The operas by playwright W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan have been considered some of the most popular and successful pieces of musical theatre in the English language. While their joint creative output neared perfection, Gilbert and Sullivan's working relationship was fraught with conflict. The two men's opposing personalities led them to favor disparate styles and work towards different goals. However, the ability to balance contrasting tones, such as sarcasm and sympathy, resulted in their overwhelming success. I analyze this "winning formula" by looking at the influence of feminism, especially the "New Woman" literary movement, on the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. Gilbert frequently used common female stereotypes and gave his female characters humorous yet demeaning flaws that kept the audience from fully admiring them. Sullivan, on the other hand, countered Gilbert's derisive attitude by composing sophisticated music for the female characters, granting emotional depth and a certain level of respectability. The struggle between Gilbert's mocking tone and Sullivan's empathetic music led to the men's ultimate success. I examine Gilbert's female characters, explore the counteractive effect of Sullivan's music, and analyze Princess Ida—their opera most directly related to the New Woman—in depth.

My thesis will encompass the completion of the lighting design for W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan's opera The Mikado and a post-production written documentation of the entire production process. The thesis will involve the completion of a lighting design with all of its accompanying paperwork generated in AutoCAD and Excel. The design will require lights for a two-act, multi-locational musical. Lights will need to provide a bright environment that can transform to the various locales. The entire design process will involve close communication with the entire design team, the director and the shop crew. As lighting designer, I will have to communicate with the Master Electrician and instruct him or her on the proper hang and circuiting of all instruments and provide detailed paperwork to ensure the light plot is hung correctly. With the Master Electricians help I will focus and gel all instruments. As lighting designer, I will also write cues and any special lighting effects for the show. During technical rehearsal week I will continue to maintain close communication with the director, making any necessary changes to create a better artistic product. The whole process will involve close collaboration with all of the design areas and an open communication so that lights enhance all elements of the show. As lighting designer, I will have to develop a vocabulary to communicate the abstract ideas of light and communicate them well enough so that the final product is both what the director and I imagined. During this process, I will maintain a journal that details the steps throughout the process and will act as a record of the discoveries and setbacks that occur. I will also provide research to support all of my creative decisions. I will also provide a strong informed basis for the design. The written portion of the Thesis will document the design process from early concept discussions through the completion and opening of the show. The thesis will examine the artistic developments and growth, as well as reflect on the overall success and development of the design. The personal journals maintained throughout the process will be edited and included for insight into daily growth of the design. The inclusion of these journals will also provide insight into the working relationship and nature of my collaboration with all the departments.

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No description available.

Nous étudions la propriété RD en terme de décroissance de coefficients matriciels de représentations unitaires. Nous nous concentrons en particulier sur des représentations provenant de l'action des groupes de Lie et de groupes discrets sur un "bord" approprié. Ces actions produisent des rerésentations unitaires à normalisation prés. Nous utilisons des techniques d'analyse harmonique et de théorie ergodique pour amorcer une nouvelle approche de la conjecture de Valette. / We study property RD in terms of decay of matrix coefficients for unitary representations. We focus our attention on unitary representations arising from action of Lie groups and discrete groups of isometries of a CAT(-1) space on their appropriate boundary. We use some techniques of harmonic analysis, and ergodic theory to start a new approach of Valette's conjecture

Soit G le groupe SO°(1, n) (n ≥ 3) ou PU(1, n) (n ≥ 2) et fixons une décomposition d'Iwasawa G = KAN. Soit ɼ un sous-groupe discret de G, que nous supposons Zariski-dense et de mesure de Bowen-Margulis-Sullivan finie. Lorsque G = SO°(1, n), nous étudions la géométrie de la mesure de Bowen-Margulis-Sullivan le long des sous-groupes fermés connexes de N, en lien avec la dichotomie de Mohammadi-Oh. Nous établissons des résultats déterministes sur la dimension des projections de la mesure de Patterson- Sullivan. Lorsque G = PU(1, n), nous relions la géométrie de la mesure de Bowen- Margulis-Sullivan le long du centre du groupe de Heisenberg au problème du calcul de la dimension de Hausdorff de l'ensemble limite relativement à la distance sphérique au bord. Nous calculons cette dimension pour certains groupes de Schottky. / Let G be the group SO° (1,n) (n ≥ 3) or PU(1, n) (n ≥ 2) and fix some Iwasawa decomposition G = KAN. Let ɼ be a discrete subgroup of G.We assume that ɼ is Zariski-dense with finite Bowen-Margulis-Sullivan measure. When G = SO°(1,n), we investigate the geometry of the Bowen-Margulis-Sullivan measure elong connected closed subgroups of N. This is related to the Mohammadi-Oh dichotomy. We then prove deterministic results on the dimension of projections of Patterson-Sullivan measure. When G = PU(1,n), we relate the geometry of Bowen-Margulis-Sullivan measure along the center of Heisenberg group to the problem of computing the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set with respect to the spherical metric on the boudary. We construct some Schottky subgroups for wich we are able to compute this dimension.

The operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, is a classic work by Gilbert and Sullivan, a work that continues to be produced frequently despite its Victorian setting and operatic style. For many years the standard performance style of all the operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan was upheld by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, who attempted to perform the operettas as they had originally been done. Though the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company helped stimulate interest in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, nontraditional productions of G & S operettas produced outside of the company were able to reach larger audiences. When The Pirates of Penzance was produced on Broadway in the 1980's, it was enormously successful. Under the direction of Wilford Leach, the production was more accessible to audiences through its pop-oriented orchestrations, Broadway-style choreography, and cast of rock stars and well-known actors. This significant change in the way The Pirates of Penzance was performed inspired several other major productions of the operetta in that style and has now become the standard interpretation of the piece. It is due to these productions that The Pirates of Penzance continues to be produced and remain culturally relevant. It is interesting to note that, while the performance style of Pirates has changed significantly over the years, the role of Mabel has remained largely unchanged. In that regard, the role of Mabel continues to fulfill the goals and tradition of D'Oyly Carte while The Pirates of Penzance has evolved from an old-fashioned operetta to a popular musical theatre piece.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Music, August 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.